This summer marks a transition for the plays of William Shakespeare at The Old Globe in Balboa Park. Adrian Noble has been the artistic director of the Shakespeare Festival for the past four seasons. This will be his last year in that position with Barry Edelstein recently named the Globe’s new artistic director. Edelstein comes to the organization with a passion for Shakespeare and a desire to prove that there's no reason for people to be afraid of the Bard or think of him as "cultural spinach." Shakespeare may be good for you but he's also fun and enlightening.

Edelstein recently staged "Thinking Shakespeare Live," a theatrical version of his book "Thinking Shakespeare." The book and its stage incarnation both explore how directors and actors work to deconstruct and demystify the text of Shakespeare's plays.

Fall under the spell of Shakespeare’s most joyful and popular comedy. Filled with magic, humor, music and spectacle, the merriment unfolds in an enchanted forest where fairies play tricks on unsuspecting lovers and bumbling actors are transformed beyond their wildest dreams. With a magic potion that grants love at first sight, anything can, and does, happen.

June 9 – Sept. 28, 2013

"The Merchant of Venice"

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Adrian Noble

Shakespeare’s unforgettable tale of mercy and justice, generosity and greed. After years of persecution for his Jewish faith, Shylock finally gets his chance for revenge. The merchant Antonio cannot pay his debt and Shylock demands his due: a pound of flesh. To save Antonio’s life, the resourceful Portia must triumph in the courtroom—but at what cost? The Merchant of Venice weaves together humor and pathos in a spellbinding, suspenseful drama.

Fast-paced and irresistibly funny, Tom Stoppard’s Tony Award-winning farce turns Shakespeare’s Hamlet inside out. Two clowns wake up one morning to discover that they are minor characters in the greatest tragedy ever written. As the story of Hamlet plays out all around them, they struggle to figure out what is happening, what it all means and whether they can escape their ultimate fate.

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